Instructions Generally Exist For A Reason

I work at a hospital as a screener. While there are a few admitting desks, as it gets late, the only place to be registered or admitted in the hospital is through the Emergency Room, as those other areas in the hospital are closed for the evening and night.

One evening, I am working at an entrance near the ER. There is a parkade attached to this entrance, and a ton of people looking for the ER come to our entrance from there and we always direct them outside to the ER entrance.

This evening, a gentleman comes to my desk and tells me he is going to be admitted for a scheduled procedure the following morning. I am puzzled about why he and his wife are standing in front of me, however, since they had instructions to go to the ER. They are heavily implying that they went to the ER but were turned away, and since I have dealt with people before who were given the runaround, going back and forth between the ER and this entrance, and because they already seem frustrated, I decide to handle the issue more sensitively and pick up the phone to figure it out myself.

I call the main switchboard, and my helpful coworker advises that I call the unit where the gentleman is scheduled to eventually go. The unit tells me they need to be registered first. This leaves me confused because the only place they can do that… is in the ER.

I am also confused because my screening coworker in the ER is excellent at her job and knows what she’s doing. So, I make my third call and get a hold of her. She tells me that she saw the couple when she had a line, but they didn’t even wait to talk to her and just left!

I tell the couple the only place they can go is the ER, and they somewhat begrudgingly leave.

This couple spent more time waiting for me to make all my calls on the phone than they would have in the lineup in the ER. They apparently thought they could get in faster if they tried a different entrance! Just follow instructions, people!